The recent problems in Britain raise some major questions about the way government has begun to do things – the European countries that had been leading proponents of the welfare state are now backing out of it, just as Obama tries to increase the level of government intervention in daily life in America. One question that the rioting has raised in Britain has been whether government programs CAN help those with no interest in helping themselves. I think it’s pretty clear that some of the critics that have been tearing down the ‘liberal’ dogmas of the welfare state are pretty close to the money.